Italian climber Bonatti dies at 81

In this photo taken Aug. 1955, Italian climber Walter Bonatti, right, is seen on the Italian side of Mont Blanc. Walter Bonatti, an Italian climber who won belated recognition for his contribution for the first ascent to the summit of the world's second-highest peak, has died. He was 81. (AP Photo/Lapresse) ITALY OUT
— AP

In this photo taken Aug. 1955, Italian climber Walter Bonatti, right, is seen on the Italian side of Mont Blanc. Walter Bonatti, an Italian climber who won belated recognition for his contribution for the first ascent to the summit of the world's second-highest peak, has died. He was 81. (AP Photo/Lapresse) ITALY OUT
/ AP

ROME 
Walter Bonatti, an Italian climber who won belated recognition for his contribution for the first ascent to the summit of K2, the world's second-highest peak, has died at age 81.

His editor Baldini Castoldi Dalai said Bonatti, who was also a journalist, died suddenly from an undisclosed illness.

Bonatti was involved in numerous famous climbs in the 1950s and 60s, but the controversy with fellow climbers Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli over the ascent up Pakistan's K-2 in 1954 went on for years.

It wasn't until 2008 that the Italian Alpine Club confirmed Bonatti's version, declaring that Bonatti and his fellow support climber Amir Mahdi had a decisive and essential role in the success of the 1954 expedition.